relatively old thread but anyways

enigma to answer your 1st question.....

simply because we can

i have a p4 celeron 1.7Ghz that i overclocked to 2.1. and to be honest it has been way more stable then stock and temps where still reasonable. (with stock cooling)

As you can see it is quite an old processor now but still works

However with the newer processors......it is more about having the edge then getting a noticable perfomance gain ImO

And as with breaking the processors..... yeh i guess you could some how manage lol